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The former Weights and Measures office in Seven Sisters, London (590 Seven Sisters Road). The imperial system of units, imperial system or imperial units (also known as British Imperial [1] or Exchequer Standards of 1826) is the system of units first defined in the British Weights and Measures Act 1824 and continued to be developed through a series of Weights and Measures Acts and amendments.
Imperial units were mostly used in the former British Empire and the British Commonwealth, but in all these countries they have been largely supplanted by the metric system. They are still used for some applications in the United Kingdom but have been mostly replaced by the metric system in commercial, scientific, and industrial applications.
The imperial system of units was developed and used in the United Kingdom and its empire beginning in 1824. The metric system has, to varying degrees, replaced the imperial system in the countries that once used it. Most of the units of measure have been adapted in one way or another since the Norman Conquest (1066).
The table of imperial avoirdupois mass is the same as the United States table up to one pound, but above that point, the tables differ. The imperial system has a hundredweight, defined as eight stone of 14 lb each, or 112 lb (50.802 345 44 kg), whereas a US hundredweight is 100 lb (45.359 237 kg). In both systems, 20 hundredweights make a ton.
World map, colour-coded to show the years the countries started the process of official conversion to the metric system. Using data from PhD thesis by Hector Vera and NIST. Metrication or metrification is the act or process of converting to the metric system of measurement. [1]
The International System of Units is the modern metric system. It is based on the metre–kilogram–second–ampere (MKSA) system of units from early in the 20th century. [ 20 ] It also includes numerous coherent derived units for common quantities like power (watt) and irradience (lumen).
A fleeting hint of an ancient decimal or metric system may be found in the Mohenjo-Daro ruler, which uses a base length of 1.32 inches (33.5 mm) and is very precisely divided with decimal markings. Bricks from that period are consistent with this unit, but this usage appears not to have survived, as later systems in India are non-metric ...
Countries using the metric (), imperial, and US customary systems as of 2019. United States customary units form a system of measurement units commonly used in the United States and most U.S. territories [1] since being standardized and adopted in 1832. [2]